# Install libmatio with Homebrew, apt, pacman C library for reading and writing MATLAB MAT files. Version 1.5.30 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:libmatio ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install libmatio ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libmatio-dev ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libmatio-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S libmatio ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: libmatio from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:libmatio - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 1.5.30 - **Source summary:** C library for reading and writing MATLAB MAT files - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** BSD-2-Clause - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-22T14:05:19-07:00 - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T18:08:21+00:00 ## Executables - matdump (cli) - matdump (alias) ## Dependencies - hdf5 ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 1.5.30 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-22 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://matio.sourceforge.net/ - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage MATIO is a small C library for reading and writing MATLAB MAT files without linking an application to MATLAB itself. In package-manager terms it fills the unglamorous but important role of letting scientific and engineering tools exchange .mat data in batch jobs, converters, bindings, and libraries. ### Project history The project is hosted on SourceForge and its documentation describes MATIO as an open-source C library for binary MATLAB MAT files. The README explains the practical motivation: programs and libraries may need MAT-file access even when they do not have MATLAB or do not want to depend on MATLAB shared libraries. MATIO evolved around the details of MATLAB's changing file formats, especially the older v4/v5 formats and HDF5-backed MAT files. Later release notes show continuing work on HDF5 compatibility, Unicode filenames, large files, CMake support, security fixes for crafted files, and the matdump command-line utility. ### Adoption history MATIO's adoption is mostly invisible infrastructure: it appears as libmatio or libmatio-dev in Unix package managers and is useful to projects that need MAT-file interchange rather than a full MATLAB runtime. The project's own acknowledgements name contributors and users from numerical, simulation, and scientific software communities, including Scilab, OpenMEEG, Nelson, and the Modelica Association. For Homebrew users, libmatio provides the library and matdump executable as a normal formula, which makes MATLAB data inspection and conversion available in scripts on macOS and Linux without installing a larger scientific stack. ### How it is used Developers use MATIO through its C API to open MAT files, inspect variables, and read or write arrays and metadata. The matdump utility gives package users a quick command-line way to examine MAT-file contents. The package is especially useful around mixed MATLAB, Octave, Scilab, Python, C, and Fortran workflows where .mat files are the interchange format but the producer and consumer are not both MATLAB. ### Why package nerds care MATIO is a classic package-nerd dependency: few users install it for its own interface, but many scientific packages need the capability it provides. It turns a proprietary application's file format into a portable Unix library dependency. Its maintenance history also shows why small file-format libraries matter: release notes repeatedly mention bounds checks, CVEs, HDF5 compatibility, and build-system portability, all of which affect downstream scientific tools more than end-user headlines. ### Timeline - 2000s: MATIO becomes a SourceForge-hosted C library for MATLAB MAT-file I/O. - 2018: MATIO 1.5.12 adds append support for struct arrays in HDF5 MAT files and fixes character-array handling. - 2020: MATIO 1.5.18 adds CMake support and updates HDF5 and Windows filename handling. - 2022: MATIO 1.5.22 adds support for reading large MAT files and fixes crafted-file heap overflows. - 2026: MATIO 1.5.30 is released with const-correctness changes, a Mat_VarCreateStruct deprecation, and memory-leak fixes. ### Related projects - MATLAB and GNU Octave are the main ecosystems that make MAT files a common interchange target. - HDF5 is important for newer MAT-file variants and appears repeatedly in MATIO release notes. - JMatIO and MAT-file I/O libraries for LabVIEW cover similar interchange needs in other language or tool ecosystems. ### Sources - - - - - - ## Security Notes library-like package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - library-like package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** libmatio - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 1 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - libmatio-dev - 1.5.28-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libmatio-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - development files | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - Debian apt - libmatio-doc - 1.5.28-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libmatio-doc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - documentation files | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - Debian apt - libmatio13 - 1.5.28-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libmatio13 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - shared library | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - Debian apt - matio-tools - 1.5.28-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: matio-tools from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - command-line tools | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - Ubuntu apt - libmatio-dev - 1.5.26-1build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libmatio-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - development files | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - Ubuntu apt - libmatio-doc - 1.5.26-1build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libmatio-doc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - documentation files | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - Ubuntu apt - libmatio11 - 1.5.26-1build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libmatio11 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - shared library | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - Ubuntu apt - matio-tools - 1.5.26-1build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: matio-tools from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | MATLAB MAT File I/O Library - command-line tools | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio - pacman - libmatio - 1.5.30-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: libmatio from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | C library with a fortran 90/95 module interface for reading/writing MATLAB MAT-files | https://sourceforge.net/projects/matio ## Related links - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Database and data packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/database-data-tools/) - Matched database, SQL, migration, or data-store metadata. - [hdf5](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/hdf5/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [dynare](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/dynare/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [vips](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/vips/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [cgns](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cgns/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, file-formats. - [libesedb](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libesedb/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, file-formats. - [liblzf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/liblzf/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, data, library. - [libmaxminddb](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libmaxminddb/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, data, library. - [libmemcached](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libmemcached/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, data, library. - [liborigin](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/liborigin/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, file-formats. - [libxls](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libxls/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, file-formats. - [mcap](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mcap/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, file-formats. - [gqlplus](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gqlplus/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, data. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/libmatio.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/libmatio.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph